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Friday morning I got the call to pick up the 6 nucs of Russians I've been waiting for. Ten hours of driving, back after dark so this morning I started preparing to hive them.

It all seemed to go quite well. Very gentle. No smoke, just a light bit of sprayed sugar water. They were happy throughout the process.

However at the end I saw something in the bottom of a nuc I had never seen before. At first it seemed like oversized pollen pellets, but on closer examination it looks like the abdomens of bees, white, and some had dark blue/green to black outer coatings. Chalky white. The textbooks seem to confirm my suspicion.

As of the time of writing the books I consulted there was not a treatment other than sun and drying conditions. I can put some better ventilation on tomorrow. They're in full sun from dawn till 8:00PM now.

I usually only hits breifly in the spring and clears up afterwards. You may find some mummies for some time because it takes some time to get them all cleared out, but the numbers should steadily decline. Full sun usually seems to take care of it.

&gt;Should the hive be isolated?

I wouldn't.

&gt;Is there a danger of cross contamination ?

It's endemic. It probably exists in all hives but simply doesn't succeed well enough to notice unless the conditions are right.